Radiator



March 19, 1929. T, E MURRAYq JR ,705,49l

RADIATOR Filed May 12, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 19, 1929.

T. E. MURRAY, JR

RADIATOR Filed May 12, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 u. HMWDHWNT i HUM HN IIJ um (AMQM @Ummm )VMM wwmm @H JF (UM- IJ JLF l Um% QH (HUN mu www 1 J HHMM UWM mw H M HUM. JMWH. (Wmv WM ATTORNEY `Patented Mar. 19, 1929.

UNITED STATES THOMAS E. MURRAY, JR., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

RADIATOR.

Application filed May 12,

In certain 4previous applications of myselfl and others there are described radiators coinprising a horizontal steam pipe, electric heater or similar high temperature heating element to which is applied a radiatin structure of extended area in the form of transverse vertically extending tins forming fines either closed or partly closed to facilitate circulation of the heated air, and made generally of copper so as to eifect a very rapid transfer of heat from the heating element to the surrounding air. The present invention relates primarily to radiators of this class, and is applicable to a variety of radiators both within and without the class referred to.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 a front elevation of a radiator;

Fig. 3 is a half plan and a half section of a terminal itting;

Fig. 4 is a half plan and a half section of a coupling between two radiator units;

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of a radiator, encased; f

Fig. 6 is a similar view of a modification;

Fig. 7 is an oblique View of the principal parts of a radiator;

Fig. 8 is an oblique View of the same, encased; l

Fig. 9 is a plan View of the principal parts of the same;

Figs. 10 and 11 are transverse vertical sections of different types of radiator, encased.

The principal parts of the radiator are one or more steam pipes or similar heating elements embraced by a radiating structure forming lues which heat the air and induce a strong draft of air through them.

By the present invention radiators of this and similar constructions may be manufactured more cheaply and made to work more efficiently.

For this purpose, the complete radiator is made by assembling units which are separately manufactured. These units are made in such different sizes and with such connecting provisions that they may be assembled to make a complete radiator With practically any desired capacity and any desired length,

1927. Serial No. 190,667.

Width and height to fit it with advantage to the space available. i

In Figs. 1 and 2, for example, I have shown a radiator made of units of two sizes, the units l being, for example two feet long, and the y units 2 being three feet long, each unit being about three inches high andl three inches wide. Two such units connected end to end make the radiator approximately iive feet long. These are duplicated in plan to give a radiator a little over six inches in Width. They are also duplicated in elevation (Fig. 2) so asto make the radiator somewhat over six inches in height. The only difference between the .units 1 and 2 is in their length. With two such units we can provide a radiator of any desired length in feet above the minimum length of two feet and having any desired number of pipes in height and in width.

Each unit comprises a steam pipe 3 to the front and back of which are applied plates corrugated in horizontal section to form out er and inner narrow plates 4 and 5 connected by inclined plates 6. The inner corrugations are pressed out as at 7 (see Figs. 9 and 10) to embrace the steam pipe and are pressed firmly against the latter and soldered or otherwise united thereto or welded, riveted or bolted to each other to make an intimate heat conducting joint of considerable area between each plate 4 and the pipe. In the finished structure, therefore, the outside plates 4 of the corrugations form with the adjoining plates 6 iues which are closed except at the top and bottom and which extend beyond the pipe above and below so as to induce a draft or circulation of the heated air which draft is the more rapid as the flues are longer. Instead of steam pipes, electric heaters may be substituted, or other heating elements. A single heating element for each unit is preferred, for reasons stated hereinafter, but certain of the advantages of the invention may be realized by using a plurality of heating elements in each unit.

In Fig. 7, I have shown similar units of different dimensions, three such units being assembled, one above the other to make a radiator of the given length, of the height of three pipes and of the width of one. At the ends Where there is no pipe connection, stif1 fening plates 8 and 9 are used .and various other styles of suppoit may-be provided for holding the' several units in the desired relative positions. 1

The pipe may be'connected by fittings of various sorts. I have illustrated certain special fittings for the purpose in Figs. 3 and 4. In Fig. 3 the tube 3 has its end expanded to form a flange which engages a shoulder of an internally threaded nut 10 which is adapted to receive a fitting 11 that is threaded for coupling to a steam pipe such as 12, Fig. 2, (or to a cross-coupling 13 which in turn is threaded to the steam pipe 12). Fig. 4 shows a linear connection between th-'e pipes/of two units, the pipes being flanged to engage the 'nuts 10 and the latter being screwed on to a thimble 14. Fig. 1 shows the coupling nuts 11 at the ends of the radiator threaded to the ends of a fitting 13.vr The vertical connection between units may be by a simple bend 15, Fig. 2, threaded/to the outer nut of the crossconnection 13. Thus in the radiator of Figs. 1 and 2 the pipes and the units are in series vertically with the discharge end of one course communicating with the admission end of the next lower course, while the horizontal arrangement is a parallel one, the two pipes taking their steam from a common header at one end and discharging into a header at the opposite end. Such parallel arrangements and series arrangements may be varied according to circumstances and known principles of radiator design.

In practice `it is probable that more than two lengths would be made in each type of basic unit in order to limit the number of linear couplings required in making up a long` radiator, and in order to make it possible to assemble radiators in lengths differing by less than one foot, which was the minimum permissible variation in the example given above. But the number of basic units need not be large. The manufacture can be planned for a large quantity production of a few simple standard units from which a great variety of finished radiators can be assembled.

There are advantages in making each unit of a single steam pipe, with corrugated plates, which though the lines extend beyond the pipe so as to secure the best heating eilect and induced draft, yet are comparatively narrow in the vertical dimensions.

First there is an advantage in economy of manufact-nre. The thin copper sheets which I prefer to use can be bought much more cheaply per pound in narow strips than in wide sheets. jThis is due to the comparative ease with which a narrow strip can be rolled down to a thin cross section. The narrow st-rip copper is also regularly manufactured and vsold in coils or rolls which are easily handled and cut in continuous pieces of any width having a single heating element. Ba-

diators of this general tpe, particularly .when made with copper p ates or fines, heat the air so rapidly as to be most ciiicient when vthe height or length of the air lues is comparatively small. For example, in certain tests, a radiator with tlues 21 inches high caused a rise in ten'iperature within the bottom fifth of the height equal to nearly onehalf thetotal rise in passing through the whole flue. Similarly the second fifth of the lue height raised the air temperature approxin'iately one-half of its remaining total risc, and so on. This advantage of short unit lues is utilized in the radiator of a previous application of'Phelps No. 66,444 of November 3, 1925, in which, however, separate bodies of air are heated in the separate units.

I propose to pass the air trom a lower unit through the lues of the next higher unit, preferably with a space between the two to takein additional air. struction. And I have found that the supply of fresh air for the upper section can be heated efficiently at the same time that the warm air from the lower section is also passing through the upper one. The manner in which this arrangement acts is illustrated in Fig. 5.

As the air passes up through the lower section, at the point indicated by the arrow 1G, it acquires an increasing velocity so that at the point 17 the samel column of air requires less space in the cross-section. Consequently fresh air is sucked in as indicated by the arrow 1S. and this is in the form of a shell or thick ilm around the hotter air at 17, and being so positioned lit is next to the radiating surface of the plates 4 and 6 so that the latter transfer the heat rapidly to the cooler air.

For a third unit above the second, the same increase of velocity and the same capacity for sucking in and heating an additional volume of air would be repeated. This operation has been demonstrated by observing the flow of smoke through the iues.v Further positive evidence of the addition of cool air to the column liowing through each suecessive unit is in the fact that the average temperature of the air discharged from the bottom row of flues is but a few degrees lower than that of the air discharged from the next flue above it; and that where additional units are provided above the rst two the temperature of the air leaving the succeeding flues is substantially the same as This simplifies the conthat leaving the second flue. Tests show that each unit does approximately ninety percent as much work as that immediately below it. Thereforecool air must be entering at each level in'addition to the heated air made with several steam pipes one above another` embraced bv fines which are continuous from bottom to top, each pipe was found to do only from sixty to seventy percent as much Work as the pipe immediately below it.

vThe admission of fresh air at the various levels is, therefore, a distinct benefit. v

The same effect can be secured by making the radiator as in Fig. 6 with the radiating structure continuous through a height of two or more pipes with wide openings 19 at the sides for admission of fresh air at points between thelevels of the two pipes 3. The air currents are indicated by arrows 16, 17

and 18, corresponding with those of Fig. 5.

Radiators of the/ style described may be used with or without an enclosing casing. Such a casing is indicated at 20 in/Fig. 5 with an open bottom and with openings .21 at the sides for admission of fresh air and 22 at the top for the escape of heated air. A similar casing is indicated in Fig. 8 for vthe radiator of Fig. 7, having side walls 23 with openings at the sides shielded by anges 24 and with openings 25 at the top.

The radiator of Fig. 5 has the ues in successive units directly in line with each other. According to Figs. 9 and 10, the iues 26 of the successive units are offset from each other in` the longitudinal direction, so that each flue in any section receives only part of the warm air rising from any flue in the next section below. Vith the aid of the surrounding casing, however, practically the entire area operates in the manner of closed fines of the full height of each unit.

The successive units may also be offset laterally. I have shown such an arrangement in Fig. 11. There is an enclosing casing 27 with an opening shielded by a Harige 28 at the front and a wide opening 29 at the rear. In this case the warm air from t-he right-hand nues of the lowest section pass through the left-hand flues of the next section and thence through the right-hand flues of thethird section; the iues at the outer sides ineach section operating largely independently of each other. Various other arrangements of the fines may be provlded.

The radiator may be equally used for cooling air by circulating cold brine or the like through the pipes so that the latter become a heat-ing element only in the negative sense, that is, they `extract heat from the radiating structure and induce a flow of the cool air downward through the nues similar to the upward circulation of theair induced by the passage. of steam through the pipes.`

Various modications may be made by those skilled Ain the art without departing from the invention asldeiined in the following claims.

I/Vhat I claim is:

1. A radiator for heating air comprising a plurality of separately formed units each including a heating element and a radiating` structure forming vertical iiues closed in cross-section adapted to accelerate the vertlcal flow of the heated alr, said units -belng arranged in vertical alinement with eachother.

2. A radiator made up of a plurality of units, assembled together, each unit including a heating elem'ent and a radiating structure forming lues, said units being arranged in line with each other in the direction of How of the heated air with the lues of one unit 1ocated in position to receive heated air from the fluesin'another unit. y

A radiator made up of a pluralityof unitsA assembled together, each unit including a heating element and a radiating'structure forming fines, said units being arranged in line with .each other in the direction of iow of the heated air with the lues of one unit located in position to receive heated air from the lues in another unit with a space between such two units for the admisison of fresh air. -f

4L. A radiator made up of a plurality of units assembled together, each unit including a heating element and a radiating struc ture forming flues, vertical flues closed in cross-section so as to accelerate the vertical flow of the heated air, the flues of one units being directly in line with the 'lues of another so as to receive all the heated air therefrom and to induce an increased velocity of such columns of heated air, and the flues of the first named unit arranged to receive additional fresh air.

5. A radiator including in combination a plurality of separated heating elementsand a radiating structureY forming lues extending transversely across said heating elements with openings for the admission of fresh air to the iiues between the heating elements.

6. A radiator comprising a plurality of separate units each including an elongated heating element and a radiating structure, said units being arranged alongside of each other in the direction of the length of the heating elements.

7. A radiator comprising a plurality of units assembled together each unit including aV heating element and corrugated plates applied to the opposite sides thereof to form ilues at the inner sides of said plates, the flues of different units being in line with each other 'and spaced apart, and a casing enclosing the radiator and forming iues on the outer sides of the corrugated plates, said casing being open at the bottom and also at points adjacent to the space between the units to admit fresh air.

8. A radiator comprising a plurality of separate units assembled together each unit including an elongated heating element and a,

radiating structure extending transif'erFely thereto, sind umts being of di'erent lengths 10 in the direction of the length of the heating elements.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my y, name.

THoMAS E. MURRAY, JR. 

